1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for sharing a file between a control point and a media server in a Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) system, and a system thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
DLNA operates in compliance with the IEEE 802.3i and 802.3u standards for general network connectivity and in compliance with the IEEE 802.11a/b/g standard for wireless connectivity. A network layer uses Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) and a media transport layer uses HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP). DLNA is based on a middleware Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) that uses protocols such as Internet Protocol (IP), Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), User Data Protocol (UDP), HTTP, and eXtensible Markup Language (XML). UPnP is characterized in that it independently enables commands and control between devices on a network of a specific operation system, programming language, and medium.
The UPnP Audio and Video (AV) standard defines four services: Content Directory service, Connection Manager server, Rendering Control service, and AV Transport service.
The Connection Manager service enables a control point to use and manage the relationship between a content source and a content sync in selecting a format and a protocol. The control point refers to a device capable of detecting and controlling other devices. With the Connection Manager service, the control point does not need to have knowledge of a physical media connection technology and selects a source and a sync to render the source.
The Rendering Control service controls audio and video characteristics. Most rendering devices provide for the setting of attributes that affect content rendering. The Rendering Control service provides a control point with a function of controlling these rendering attributes.
The AV Transport service controls playback and recoding. The AV Transport service provides a mechanism for a control point to control transmission of audio and video streams by tasks such as Play, Stop and Pause.
The Content Directory service provides a list of content and metadata. The Content Directory service is used as a control point to search for and store audio and video content. This service might be used to display a list of songs stored on an MP3 player, still images comprising various slide shows, movies stored in a DVD jukebox, TV shows, etc. In addition, the Content Directory service describes a method for dynamically generating thumbnails for images and efficiently rendering the thumbnails in a control point or a media renderer. In DLNA, the thumbnails are provided mainly in an independent media format such as JPEG_TN or PNG_TN.
Along with the proliferation of digital cameras and mobile phones, most users take photos with their mobile phones or digital cameras. After taking photos, the photos are stored in a mobile storage medium such as a Secure Digital (SD) card, a Compact Flash (CF) card, a Universal Serial Bus (USB), a Compact Disc (CD), etc., or the photos are uploaded to the Web.
A user, which has taken photos using a mobile phone or the like, selectively determines with whom to share the photos. To share the photos, the user copies a photo file of the photos to a device of another user or transmits the photo file to the device of the other user. At the moment the user takes a photo, the photo is not shared with another user. The user is generally required to search through photo files stored in a digital camera or a mobile phone one by one in order to transmit a photo to another user. Thus, it is difficult to physically share the photo with another user. If the user intends to share a photo with a few persons, the photo sharing may be easy. However, to share a photo with a number of persons, the user needs to transmit the photo to each of them individually. Accordingly, there exists a need for a method and apparatus for facilitating a photo to be shared between users.